“This team is ready for the World Cup qualifier. The brand of cricket that you guys played, don’t forget the taste of it.... Remember this and keep moving forward.” That was India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav after Oman put up a spirited fight against India in the 2025 Asia Cup, before losing by 21 runs. Yadav was giving a pep talk to the Oman contingent when a player mentioned their preparations for the World Cup qualifiers.
As it turned out, Yadav’s confidence in the preparedness of the Oman team was well placed. The team from the sultanate is back on the global stage and play their opening game of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup on Monday, February 9. Though the sporting narrative in the Middle East is dominated by the billions poured into football, the rise of Omani cricket offers a different story—one of steady, sustained growth.
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Oman’s journey to its fourth T20 World Cup has been defined by a transition, spread out over a decade, toward professionalism. For years, players in the national squad balanced full-time office jobs with late-evening practice sessions on cement pitches. Ludhiana-born captain Jatinder Singh, who works for Khimji Ramdas (owned by the family of Oman Cricket boss Pankaj Khimji), has said that his carefully planned days—workouts, office work, nets in the afternoon, evening training—has helped him to stay disciplined.
A key milestone in Oman Cricket’s journey was when Sri Lankan Duleep Mendis took over as coach in 2014. He initiated the transition to semi-professionalism, part-time contracts and an increased focus on the smaller details of being a cricketer. It paid off. In 2015, Oman won the ACC T20 Cup and secured entry to the T20 World Cup qualifiers, where they finished in the sixth and final qualification spot in a field of 14 teams. Their debut on the world stage was a famous defeat of Ireland.
Since then, the infrastructure in Oman has evolved. The Oman Cricket Academy in Al Amerat now boasts two floodlit, ICC-accredited turfs that hosted matches in the 2021 T20 World Cup. While the growth of the men’s cricket team is evident, the lesser heralded story is unfolding in the women’s game.
As the men’s team prepares for their World Cup opener on February 9, the women are creating history at home. They are hosting Denmark in a historic bilateral T20I series in Muscat. On February 4, Oman secured a 70-run victory to go 2-0 in the four-match series. They look well on course for a whitewash, but, while that will be encouraging, the team will need to reach a level where they can challenge tougher opponents. They have taken encouraging strides since gaining T20I status in 2018, including reaching rank 34 in 2019 (they are currently 52nd). However, they are yet to get to the qualifiers of the either the World Cup or the Asia Cup.
Therefore, the significance of the series against Denmark extends beyond the results. Oman Cricket has focused on grassroots development and school-based programmes, aiming to introduce the sport to a wider demographic. Such matches are key in giving competitive experience to the talent that comes through. Also, the development of the women’s teams is a primary metric for a sport's sustainability in an ecosystem. So, for Oman to truly arrive in the world of cricket, the women’s team has to improve.
The men’s team has looked remarkable in the warm-up matches before the T20 World Cup, defeating both Sri Lanka A and Zimbabwe—they face the latter in their opening match. Oman is more than capable of getting two results (the other three teams in the group are Ireland, Australia and Sri Lanka) though not much is expected of the team. The focus will inevitably be on the giants of the game. This means that Oman will be left to concentrate on the tasks before them, with not much in the way of pressure.
Their mere presence at yet another World Cup is a validation of the “brand of cricket” Yadav praised months ago—fearless, technically sound and increasingly professional. For a country of five million, having a team ranked in the top 20 provides a distinct point of national pride. Cricket is also a unifying force and therefore vital to national interests. So, Oman’s journey is no longer about proving they belong; it is about seeing how far they can go.
